Churchill Tyres Handicap
One for a very competitive handicap at York.
I love these races. Okay, they aren’t serious punting events for most, certainly not with my angles, but they’re real puzzles and they’re fun to dig through. I had one earmarked for this after last run, and I’m pleased that they’ve again targeted this race after a 4th in 2024 and swerving it last year. WOVEN just sneaks in off bottom weight, 8st9, just like he did in 2024 and I urge anyone to watch the Thirsk run back last time out. It wasn’t off a yard, and was being run with this in mind. Still, that was a great fourth behind a Wathnan horse, and he should be fit and primed for this after his 5 month winter break. Off a rating of 86, he gets weight from every runner and is versatile ground wise. That may come in handy with showers forecast, could be heavy, on Wednesday which won’t suit a fair few in here. If they don’t come, he still has plenty of form on better ground and on the evidence of Thirsk he is well treated to have another good stab at this.
With York form of 140440, five of those runs in big field handicaps, he loves these races and will have no issue being part of a big field. I have been looking up draw bias’ at York, I convinced myself there was a bias for low over 6f, but an excellent piece online told me I was wrong. It’s pretty much spread all over the track equally, although of course you have to see how the track is riding on the day. I usually find York to be very fair, so I’m not concerned by it and it won’t change my mind on this bet being drawn high.
Woven has hovered around the 85 mark for a long time now, mostly rated high 80s, and he is a fair bet to run a belter which, again, you can’t guarantee with a lot in here. He may well be outclassed, and this could be his last season as a 10yo sprinter, but I want to take the chance that he can go out landing a nice pot from a yard that do well, namely Dakota Gold, at York.
ADVISED BET- 28-1 0.5ptew 5 places